Method of constructing subaqueous tunnels.



. PATENTED AUG. 21, 1906.

J. WILGUS & A. CARSON.

METHOD OF OONSTRUOTING' SUBAQUEOUS TUNNELS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 10. 1906.

' '3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

f/rwenl bmj William J WI-1 M, Howard H; C0; 160m;

Attem- PATENTED AUG. 21, 1996.

' W. J. WILGUS & H. A. CARSON.

METHOD OF .-APPL10AT10N FILED FEB.10. 1900.

GO'NSTR'UGTING SUBAQUEOUS TUNNELS.

a SHEETS-SHBET 2.

Mew

No. 829,190. PATEN'TED AUG. 21, 1906.

. W. J. WILGUS & H. A. CARSON. METHOD OF GONSTRUGTING 'SUBAQUEOUSTUNNELS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 10. 190B.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFIon WILLIAM J. WI GUs', or NEW YORK, N.Y., ANDHOWARD A; mason. or MALDEN. MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING SUBAQUEOUS TUNNELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 21, 1906.

Application filed February 10, 1906- Serial No. 300,494.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, VVI'L IAM J. WILGUS, of the city, county, and Stateof New. York,

and HOWARD A. CARSON, of the city of Malden, county of Middlesex, andCommon wealth of Massachusetts, citizens of the United States, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Methods of Constructingsubaqueous Tunnels, of which the,following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

During the past thirty-five years therehave been schemes proposed forconstructing subaqueous tunnels by placing at the bottom of the waterboth inner and outer molds and depositing between the same and entirelyaround theinner one cement concrete, which when set or hardened is toconstitute the tunnel-walls desired. This proposed method we deemimpracticable, for, as we have learned by experience, concretedepositedunder and in contact with water usually results in a far poorer productthan when made and allowed to set in air. It usually also has numerousvoids and cannot prudently be relied upon to prevent too-rapidpercolation of water through it. There have also been proposed variousschemes for sinking tubes of metal or other material, which when joinedtogether at the bottom of the water unite to form a subaqueous tunnel;but processes hitherto roposed of'connecting such tubes with su cientaccuracy and wator-tightness as to be suitable for passengertunnels aredifiicult and uncertain.

foundation along the water-bottom, the-wa- The object of our inventionis to furnish a.

process of laying subaqueous tunnels by which the objections abovereferred'to and others will be obviated.

, The process,-broadly stated, is as follows? Having located an outershell, which may be only imperfectly water-tight, upon a suitable terisexpelled by pumping or air-pressure,-or both,.'firom the whole or asuitableportion of said shell, Water being prevented the use ofcompressed air, if necessary, from Heritabmg the same. Concrete or othersultalile material is then carried within ,iisaid outer shell and formedinto walls which are to comp fiet tu el P ope .1 th Wa i at; e exc u edra o ab t o o -the= outer shell, successive parts will be cleared of Y Yin Fig; 1.

, be tolerably the" prepared bed 1-1..

Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1is a side sectional elevation of a subaqueous tunnel made in accordancewith our process. Fig.2 is a cross-section of thesame on the line X X inFig. 1. Fig. 3 .is a cross-section on theline the line Z Z in Fig. 1.Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of a subaqueous tunnel made in aslightly different manner. Fig. 6 is a crosssection of theouter shell,showing means for its adjustment whenbeing located in position. None ofthese figures are drawn strictly to scale, but instead are diagrammaticin character.

In the drawings, 10 designates the bottom of the water in which thetunnel is to be laid. 11 is a channel or trench dredged out for thetunnels reception, and 1 is the outer shell. The first step in theprocess is the preparation of a suitable bed in the bottom of the waterwhere the tunnel isto be built. This may in some cases requirefilling,in others,

Fig. 4 is a cross-section on dredging. The latter case is assumed for ona suitable bed and adjusted to pro er podesignates the wedges for theadjustments in profile and 21 in plan, or they may be bents of pileswith timber or concrete upper surfaces, the same being so made andplaced that the shells or fmoldswhe'n supported thereon will true toline and grade. 1 .The next step in the operation is to sink through thewater the outer shell, mold, orform 1, of

.sition by wedges, as shown in Fig. 6, .w ere 20 9o metal, wood, orother suitable material, suples 2 a short distance from the bottom ofbeing described. hereinafter. Concrete 01'' orting and securingthe sameupon the sad- Y If this shell is laid in SGQfiDIlIS,- ;SU.Ql1.*SGCtiQIIS mustv be piioperly. united-together. ithe, method of;Suchziunion:

other suitable material is then introduced between the under surface ofsaid shell and the bed beneath to form a' foundation 3 for thetunnel-walls, as shown in Fig. 3. In most cases the outer shell will beentirely surrounded by filling 6, of concrete, riprap, gravel, clay, orother material, depending upon the expense that can be afforded, thestrength and Weight of the shell, and other circumstances.

In general, depending on the length of the subaqueous tunnel to beformed, the shell ormold will be lowered through the water in sectionsof convenient length for handling, usually from fifty to five hundredfeet. These sections are after being laid in the saddles 2, as alreadydescribed, to be securely joined together end to end and the jointsbetween them made as water-tight as is reasonablypracticable. Ifcompressed air is to be used later to prevent the entrance of water, thejoints may be made in-a simpler and less water-tight way than wouldotherwise be permissible. For instance, the joints may be wrapped, bythe aid of divers, with stout canvas lapping onto two contiguous ends ofshells and tightly held by wires or tourniquets, as at 7 in Fig 1. Thiscanvas will be covered by the outer filling of concrete or othermaterial 6, previously referred to, or by a limited covering 7 of groutor concrete.

In some cases we prefer to make the joints between contiguous sectionsin the manner shown in Fig. 5. Here the sectional shells 1 havebulkheads 8 at each end, and the contiguous sections are placed in thewater a short distance apart. The spaces between thecontiguous bulkheads8 and the spaces around the outer ends of the sections are filled withgrout S" ora-specially-prepared rich concrete which will besubstantially water-tight when set or crystallized. Said bulkheads 8should be made tight enough to prevent the leakage of cement groutthrough them, and they. should also be strong enough towithstand thehead of grout and preferably strong enough to resist'the full head ofwater. Two contiguous bulkheads 8, with the special concrete 8" betweenthem, can be so dimensioned as to form to gether a bulkhead of anyrequired strength.

If such composite bulkheads 8 8' are not employed, we prefer to havebulkheads 8, placed in the outershell at convenient distances apart, andthese will ordinarily be built'into the shells before the are lowered.

tightasis readily practicable, and they are to be strong enough andthoroughly enough attachedto. the mold or. outer shell to act as a damwith a head of water due to their depth below the upperfsurfaceof thesurrounding stares water when the shell in its position. In making thesebulkheads 8 due attention is to be given to the fact. that they aretemporary; The bulkheads will divide the shellsections into a series ofcells or chambers, one or more bulkheads to each section. Forconvenience in description these chambers will be referred to as chamberA, chamber B, chamber C, &c., in the order in which subsequentoperations of pumping and building the tunnel-walls proper are to becarried on. Two pipes 9, with stop cocks or plugs in each,

should preferably be built into and through each bulkhead 8, one pipenear the top and the other near the bottom, to be used as laterdescribed.

When a convenient length of tie outer shell-sections constitutingseveral chambers has been completed and the outer shell, if it has beenconstructed of concrete, as we sometimes prefer to have it, has becomesufficiently strong, the water may be punt ed from the most convenientchamber, ca led chamberA, usually at or near the shore, and furtherleakage into said chamber may be prevented by the use of compressed air.

. The work of constructing the tunnel proper may now be begun, the firststep of which may be lining the interior surface of the outer shell withsome waterproof materialsuch as fine cement, pitch, or asphaltin orderto insure the waterproof character of the tunnel when completed- Thislining is designated by the reference-numeral 4 in Figs. 3 and 4.v

The shell may, however, be so tight that no further Waterproofing willbe necessary. The step is to form the tunnel walls proper, 5, in contactwith said lining, employing any suitable sup orting means for theconcrete or other suitab e material composing the ceiling or roof of thetunnel and any suitable coremold for the entire inner surface of the concrete, such sup orting means or core-mold being too well known in theart to require illustration in the drawings.

When the true tunnel-walls 5, including ceiling and.invert, have beencompleted in chamber A, the water in the adjoining chamber B may bedrawn through the intervening bulkhead 8 (shown in dotted lines inFig. 1) by means ofthe lower of said pipes 9 into the chamber A and fromthere ejected. by suitable means, at the same time air being'let intochamber B through. the upper'of the pipes 9. This air will beof normalpressure, if that will suffice, but may be compressed, if necessary, toinsure against leakage. I Whensub- Stantially all the water has beenremoved lIO from the chambers A and -B the bulkhead be-..

tween them may be removed and the waterproofing and the truetunnel-walls madetiin tunnel-walls, the process is e ss'zaied and B arein progress, as above described, the

. various tasks of dredging, sinking outer shellsections, and placingfoundations under and material around the shell-sections may be inprogress, so as to form additional chambers,

in the line of the tunnel.

The various steps in our process more or less complete in Figs. 2, 3,and 4, where Fig. 2 illustrates the outer shell or mold 1 as supportedupon'the saddles 2 and with the water both within and Without it. Fig. 3shows the foundation 3 completed beneath the shell with the waterremoved and the waterproof lining 4 partially applied, and 4 shows thetrue tunnel-walls 5 com pleted and the protecting material 6 applied.

The foundation 3 may be composed not only of concrete, as described, butof broken stone, sand, or other suitable material in lieu thereof. Whileit is preferable also to construct said foundation after the outer shellhas been placed in position in order that the contact between the samemay be more inti-, mate and perfect, the foundation may be laid firstand the shell then located thereon, or the foundation may be partiallyformed and completed after the shell is placed thereon. Which particulararrangement is to be adopted depends much upon the character of theground beneath. If too unstable or soft, piles may first be driven andthe foundation laid there; on rior to the sinking of the shell-sections,whi e if the ground is firm the first-described method is moredesirable.

Although-we have described our process applicable in' the constructionof concrete ually valuable is to be used not:

where brick or other materia therefor.

We illustrate but a sin le line of tunnel; but it is evident that a doule or other multiple line may be made by the same process, and sidewisecommunication between any two adjacent lines may be likewise made.

It is manifestly a difiicult operation to build beneath the water a lineof foundations exactly true as to grade and plan or even to locate aseries of saddles 2 with precise accuracy. If the shell-sections are ofsubstantial size, they may vary one with respect to its neighbors bothin profile and in plan, as representedin Fig. 1. Inasmuch as theirregularly-contacting section terminals can be madesuificientlywater-tight by the rocesses herein set forth and the cementwa s can be made to conform to the irregular inner sur faces of theshell-sections, while entirely. true as to interior surface proper, allsuch imperfection of foundation or saddles is of no moment in ourprocess of constructing subaqueous tunnels.

are shown What we claim as our invention, and for which we desireLetters latent, is as follows, to Wit:

1'. The'herein described method of constructing subaqueous tunnels, thesame con sisting in locating an outer shell or mold at the bottom of thewater on asuitable founda tion; making the same substantiallywatertight; removing the water therefrom, and finally forming thetunnel-walls proper with in said shell or mold.

2. The herein-described method of constructing subaqueous tunnels, thesame consisting in locating an outer shell or mold on a suitablefoundation at the water-bottom, removing the water therefrom andpreventing its return by the aid of compressed air, and then forming thetunnel-wal1s proper within said shell or mold.

3. The herein-described method of constructing subaqueous tunnels, thesame consisting in locating an outer shell or mold on a suitablefoundation at the water-bottom rcmoving the Water therefrom and prevenig its return by the aid of compressed then rendering the interiorsurface 1d shell or mold waterproof, and finally ining the tunnel-wallsproper within said shell in contact with said waterproof surface.

4. The herein-described method of constructing subaqueous tunnels, thesame cons'isting in locating an outer shell or mold on a suitablefoundation at the water-bottom; removing the water therefrom andpreventing its return by the aid of compressed air; and finally formingof concrete the tunnel-walls proper within said shell.

5. The herein-described method of constructing subaqueous tunnels, thesame consisting in locating an outer shell or mold on a suitablefoundation at the water-bottom;

tight; removing the water therefrom and preventing its return by the aidof compressed air; coating the inner surface of said shell with awaterproofing material; and, finally, forming the tunnel-walls proper ofconcrete in contact with said coating.

6. The herein-described method of constructing subaqueous tunnels, thesame consisting in first locating an outer shell or mold on suitablesupports at the water-bottom but allowing a space between said bottom.and under surface of said shell or mold; filling said s ace withfoundation material; removing t ewater from said shell or mold andprevent ing its return by the aid of compressed air; and then formingthe tunnel Walls proper within said shell or mold.

7 The herein-described method of consisting in locating a series ofouter shell-sections on suitable foundations at the waterbottom;temporarily preventing the passage 1 of water from one to another ofsaid sections 5 making said. shell or mold more or less Waterstructingsubaqueous tunnels, the same conremoving the Water-from successivesections '10. The herein :describechmethod of conand preventing itsreturn by the aid of com gstructing sn'baqu'eons tunnels; the-sameconpressed air; and then forming the tunnelsisting in firstlocatingaseries ofsaddles walls 'roper in the successive sectloris.

8. he herein-described method of construeting subaqueous tunnels, thesame con-. sisting in first loc'atin an outershell orgno'ld on suitableslightly-e 'evated supports at the water-bottom; constructing afoundation be tween said shell and Witter-bottom; removing the waterfrom said shell; coatin the ins terior; offsaidshell with a'waterproe gmaterial, and then forming of concrete the tunnel-walls proper withinsaid shell. I

9. The herein-described method of constructing subequeous tunnels, thesame con-- sisting in first locatinga. series of saddlesalong thewater-bottom in the line of the proposed tunnel; placing a series oflongitudin-al sections of outer shells on said saddles;

making the joints between adjacent ends of the sections substantiallyWitteftight by Wrapping flexible material thereabout, and covering withconcrete or grout; surrounding the shells with Fdundation and fillingmet- I the Water fxzom said outer shells and, final y, formingthe'tunnel wallsw terial removin pro-per Within said shells.

the sections substantially water 4 tight wrapping fiexible'niaterialthereabont and 'ing theshells foundation I .terial; removing the waterfrom id nel-walls proper within said shells d'ay of February, 1906,respective along the Water-bottom in the lineof the proposed" tunnel;placing a series of longitudi-h rial-sections of outer shells on sai-dsaddles; 5 making the joints between adjacent endsof covering withconcrete-or grout sur shells and reyenting its return byfthe aid 0compresse zeir"; and finally formgn Intestnnony that weclaim-{tinvention we jhave hereunto set our-' hamifll fl this 8th day ofFebruary,- -1906 ,andjthe fitli" WILLIAM J. WIIZGUS. "HOWARD- A.GAR'SQN. Witnesses for Wilgus I HENRY A. STAHL, H. H. WALDRON.

Witnesses for @arson: A. B. UPHAM. I ARTHIHQgB. CAn'rEn.

